Putin's words about the inadmissibility of forced learning of non-native languages ​​were received ambiguously in Tatarstan. Yes, the languages ​​of the peoples of Russia, the president noted, are also an integral part of the unique culture of the peoples of the country. But “to study these languages ​​is a right guaranteed by the Constitution, a voluntary right”...

It is precisely in the word “voluntary” that the whole conflict lies, which is being hotly discussed in Tatarstan these days. The website inkazan.ru writes about the details.

Tatars forget their native language

Meanwhile, this complex problem can have very unpredictable consequences. As you know, the Tatars are the second largest people in Russia. According to the 2010 census, 5.31 million Russian citizens considered themselves to be this people, and 4.28 million people spoke the Tatar language (among the Tatars - 3.64 million, that is, 68%)

Experts note that despite the fact that the Tatar language in the republic is on par with the Russian state language, there are fewer Tatars who know their native language. And this is not surprising - both assimilation and mixed marriages play a role. And of course, the weakening position of the language is associated with the low quality of school teaching and the closure of national schools.

According to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan, in 2016-2017, there were 724 schools (including branches) with the Tatar language of instruction in the republic. There are 173.96 thousand children of Tatar nationality studying in schools (this is 46% of the total). Of these, 60.91 thousand Tatar children study in Tatar schools. The total number of Tatar children studying in their native language is 75.61 thousand people (43.46%). That is less than half!

The results of a massive study conducted in Tatarstan in 2014 do not add optimism to defenders of the native language. According to him, the majority of Tatars would like their children to speak Russian (96%) rather than Tatar (95%). English came in third place - 83%.

And a study conducted among young people in 2015 showed that most of them want to speak English (83%). In second place is the Russian language (62%), while only 32 to 38% of respondents would like to know Tatar. Thus, a kind of scale of prestige has been built: “Western - Russian - Tatar”, where the latter is perceived as archaic and operates in the ideas of modern youth, experts conclude. The lack of incentive to study the Tatar language is largely due to the fact that, according to respondents, this language does not help them find a prestigious job.

This situation could not help but worry the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC), which sent out an appeal to deputies and political organizations calling on them to save the Tatar language. The appeal states that, despite the equality of both state languages ​​enshrined in the Constitution of Tatarstan 25 years ago, in fact only Russian can be considered the state language in the republic. Over all these years, the State Council of Tatarstan “has never been able to organize at least one meeting in the Tatar language, and simultaneous translation has been canceled in the Kazan City Duma.” In the republic, 699 Tatar schools have been closed, as well as Tatar faculties in two universities.

“In Tatarstan there should be one state language - Tatar,” conclude the members of the VTOC. - Radical? Maybe there are other suggestions on how to preserve the Tatar language?

There is already a law on bilingualism in Tatarstan, it is reflected in the Constitution, and another law is not needed, State Council deputy Hafiz Mirgalimov comments on this statement. Russian and Tatar should remain the official languages.

“In fact, we have two official languages. If someone doesn’t speak Tatar, then you need to address this question to him - why doesn’t he speak?” - says Rafael Khakimov, vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of Tatarstan.

In reality, however, everything is not so simple. For example, the Minister of Education and Science of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov said that in schools there is an acute shortage of not only teachers who know the Tatar language, and this leads to a deterioration in the quality of national education.

But the schoolchildren themselves, apparently, are not too eager to learn the Tatar language. In 2015, the website of the human rights center “ROD” published an article signed by 11th-grader Diana Suleymanova, who wrote that schoolchildren call Tatar their least favorite subject at school. The girl wrote that children are divided into groups - elementary or advanced - based on their surname, without taking into account whether families with Tatar surnames speak the national language.

They tried to fight for the Tatar language administratively: on July 11, 2017 (even before Putin’s speech), the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan adopted a bill according to which municipalities received the right to fine the management of institutions and other institutions for the lack of information in the Tatar language.

It is not difficult to judge the prospects of such measures in Russia: they have always been and will remain a source of various abuses, but the solution to the problem itself is unlikely to bring any closer.

It is curious that at first Tatarstan stated that the words of the head of state about the language had nothing to do with their region. Whereas in neighboring Bashkiria they rushed to take the stand and the head of the republic, Rustem Khamitov, promised to abolish compulsory lessons of the national language in schools, and then the prosecutor’s office of the republic issued a statement banning the non-voluntary study of the Bashkir language in local schools.

Do Putin's words contradict the constitution of Tatarstan?

As for Tatarstan, the struggle for the native language continues. This can be judged at least by how the president’s words are interpreted.

For example, journalist Maxim Shevchenko, who was present at the meeting where the president said his words, hastened to explain Putin’s position:

“This is a signal to everyone that learning Russian will be mandatory, and you organize language learning for those who want it. I believe that it is useful for people to learn languages, especially ones like Tatar. It immediately opens up the world in many countries. If you know Tatar, for example, you feel free in Turkey, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, you can communicate freely with the Kyrgyz... Let's agree with the president that the state language should be mandatory. And with other languages, let’s be able to sell them, as they say in the modern world.”

But according to the leader of the Russian national movement in Tatarstan, Mikhail Shcheglov, the Russian President addressed his words specifically to the authorities of Tatarstan. In his opinion, the region’s leadership should take action and correct the current situation without waiting for personnel decisions from the federal center.

“For 10 years I have almost physically felt the pain of parents who do not know how to get rid of this hated subject “Tatar language”: they pretend that they are studying, but aggression comes from above - from the directors’ corps, the bureaucratic educational corps.”

The public figure called a lie the statement of the regional authorities that a consensus had been reached on the issue of studying the Tatar language in the republic. The national language, Shcheglov is sure, has been and is being implanted:

“National languages ​​must be preserved among their natural speakers, and not artificial, surrogate ones. Let the Tatars learn their language, preserve it and be responsible for it to their descendants, but do not enforce it through administrative pressure.”

Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan Engel Fattakhov commented on the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin as follows:

« We have a Constitution, a law on languages ​​- we have 2 state languages: Russian and Tatar, a law on education. Both official languages ​​are studied to the same extent. We operate according to federal standards. We have no violations here. All our actions are coordinated with the Ministry of Education. We are performers. We comply with the law, we have an education program, and based on this, we will act.”

Fattakhov said that in the region this year there were no 11th grade graduates who could not overcome the minimum threshold by passing the Unified State Exam in the Russian language. According to him, on the instructions of the head of the region, Rustam Minnikhanov, about 150 million rubles are allocated annually from the budget to improve the quality of teaching the Russian language. According to preliminary data, in comparison with the regions of the Russian Federation, the results of graduates in Russian are higher than in most regions, he said. This year, 51 graduates passed the Unified State Exam in Russian with 100 points. However, a year earlier there were more such results - 85.

The head of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan recalled that teaching the Tatar language is approached differently in the region.

“In our republic, we have adopted the concept of teaching the Tatar language specifically for Russian-speaking children, for Tatar children who do not speak it perfectly, and purely Tatar children. Our position is this: we have 2 official languages. And any parent does not mind if his child is fluent in Russian, Tatar and also English. We think that everything depends on us and we will continue to work."

The Prosecutor General's Office took up the case

Adding fuel to the fire of the discussion was the message that Putin ordered the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, together with Rosobrnadzor, to conduct an audit of how the rights of citizens to voluntarily study their native language and the state languages ​​of the republics are respected in the regions.

The regional leadership has been instructed to organize Russian language training at the level approved by the Russian Ministry of Education and to improve the quality of teaching. Heads of regions must ensure that in general education schools, children study the national and state languages ​​of the republic exclusively on a voluntary basis at the choice of parents.

Not everyone was happy with this news. For example, political scientist Abbas Gallyamov believes that inspections by Rosobrnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation in the republic may cancel mandatory Tatar language lessons. “Of course, Tatarstan will have to give in. And this will be another blow to the positions of the republic’s leadership. Moscow will once again demonstrate that it does not intend to take his opinion into account.”

The results of a sociological study do not look very optimistic, according to which 23-27% of Tatars in Kazan admit that their children might not study their native language as part of the school curriculum. Putin’s statement about the voluntary study of non-native languages ​​was supported by 68% of Tatars and 80% of Russians.

And already on September 7, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tatarstan made an official statement regarding calls to abolish the compulsory study of the Tatar language in schools of the Republic of Tatarstan.

The ministry noted that, based on Article 68 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the republics that are part of Russia can independently establish national languages ​​for their region. It is recalled that the national languages ​​in Tatarstan are Russian and Tatar, which is why their study in schools is mandatory.

The ministry noted that the department is currently improving methods of teaching the Tatar language and language policy in Tatarstan. It is also reported that from January 1, 2018, the volume of studying the Russian language will be increased to the volume recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation.

As is usual in such cases, the difference in the interpretation of the words of the head of state led to various incidents. For example, a resident of Naberezhnye Chelny announced on social networks that her son was exempt from Tatar language lessons at school. However, then the woman was informed that she had misunderstood the situation: “The director told me that “I misunderstood them,” referred to the explanation of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan and said that Tatar is compulsory. The director verbally denied me the right, given to me by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and the President of the Russian Federation, to choose whether or not to teach my child a non-native language. However, she did not want to issue a refusal in writing. Referring to the fact that she has a period of 30 days. Having received a refusal even verbally, I had the opportunity to write complaints to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, which I will do today.”

As Inkazan found out, Russian-speaking parents are uniting on social networks to achieve the abolition of studying the Tatar language for their children. In each of them, community administrators emphasize that they are not against the Tatar language as such. They point to its voluntary study and demand that the Tatar language not be imposed on the Russian-speaking population.

The debate did not reveal a winner

It would not be an exaggeration to say that every day the situation around the Tatar language in Tatarstan is heating up. So, on September 14, an open debate was held in Kazan on the topic “Tatar language in the Russian education system,” in which parents of schoolchildren and representatives of public organizations took part. According to the moderator of the conversation, Albert Muratov, the reason for the meeting was the growing scandal on social networks, which resulted in mutual attacks by the Russian and Tatar-speaking population of the republic on the issue of studying the national language as part of the school curriculum.

Member of the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC) Marat Lutfullin said that he did not understand the meaning of the debate. According to him, educational institutions in the region independently develop educational programs, taking into account federal and regional characteristics and legislation. He proposed generally increasing the number of hours in both Russian and Tatar languages, as well as introducing mandatory final certification based on the results of studying the national language. His statements caused a negative reaction from those gathered, who began to shout and interrupt the speaker.

The chairman of the committee of Russian-speaking citizens of the Republic of Tatarstan, Eduard Nosov, spoke at the meeting and read out an explanation from the Tatarstan prosecutor’s office on the issue of studying national languages. According to him, the department stated that the republic has realized the right to study one’s native language as the state language. However, the prosecutor's office noted that there is a "legal conflict regarding the field of study of the subject area" native language ". There is no distinction in federal legislation between the state language and the native language.”

A member of the anti-corruption committee at the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan, Ekaterina Matveeva, said that during the day the hotline was open, the ministry received more than 40 complaints about the forced study of Tatar in schools, some of which came from groups of students’ parents. In addition, Matveeva announced cases of pressure on parents working in the public sector. For speaking out against children learning the national language, they were threatened with dismissal, she said.

And the chairman of the VTOC Farit Zakiev said, in turn, that in Russia over the past few years the number of Tatars speaking their native language has decreased by more than 1 million people. “The Russians are absolutely not to blame for this, the policy that is being pursued is to blame. We must ensure that Russian parents demand that their children be taught Tatar.”

Zakiev proposed introducing a salary increase of 25% for those who speak the Tatar language, as well as conducting bilingual interviews when applying for jobs in government agencies. Zakiev’s statements caused a negative reaction from the audience - many rose from their seats and began to interrupt the speaker.

“Why are there any protests, complaints to Moscow? This would not be desirable, because Tatarstan is a separate state and, naturally, the Tatar language is taught to citizens,” Zakiev said, asking those present to “base their statements on the Constitution of the Russian Federation.”

“This is where we come from! We can’t go back, they kick us out, they say that “we have our own,” they shouted from the hall.

It is not difficult to guess how this collision will end: the Tatar language in Tatarstan is doomed to be an optional study. But this is unlikely to contribute to civil peace in the republic.

In recent months, Tatarstan has been losing what little it had that distinguished it from other Russian regions. In 2017, Moscow did not renew the agreement on the division of powers with Kazan, which gave Tatarstan a certain autonomy. In local schools, at the height of the school year, compulsory teaching of the Tatar language was canceled. Previously, it was taught on the same basis as Russian, but now only two optional hours per week are left. Pavel Shmakov, director of the SolNTse boarding school for intellectually enthusiastic children from Kazan, was outraged by the speed of this decision and the violations with which, in his opinion, it was made and went to court. DW spoke with Shmakov about why he advocates reducing the number of Tatar language lessons, but is against making it optional.

DW: On March 1 there will be another court hearing in your case in the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan. Why are you fighting for the Tatar language in schools?

Pavel Shmakov: The whole story began, as you know, at the end of July 2017, when Putin said in Yoshkar-Ola that people should not be forced to learn a non-native language. Then, at the beginning of October, we unexpectedly received a letter from the prosecutor’s office saying that we had been inspected and our curriculum analyzed. No checks were actually carried out. A few days later, a meeting of school directors in our district took place; such meetings were held in all districts of Kazan in the presence of district prosecutors. It was conducted by the heads of the Kazan education department. I asked how and why we received inspection papers, although there were none.

At these meetings we were ordered to begin dismissing Tatar teachers. Within two months we were obliged to fire teachers. After that, prosecutors began to come to us with real checks. They began to interrogate the children why they needed Tatar, why they were learning it.

-... And you filed a protest.

I thought the position was wrong. There were obvious violations: interrogations of children in the absence of parents, prosecutors entered the boarding school without permission, photographed personal belongings of children; such actions according to the Constitution are allowed only with court approval. I filed a lawsuit against the prosecutor's office.

I believe that such actions (reducing Tatar lessons - Ed.) cannot be done quickly. In principle, they can be done, curricula sometimes change, this is normal. But such actions are done during the big summer holidays. Several court hearings have already taken place, several judges have changed, they do not want to resolve these issues, they are postponing them to a later time. The matter is dragging on. Putin asked not to force people to learn a non-native language. But we have several hours of English a week, and they are required to be studied.

In the end, curricula and recommendations were adopted that Tatar should be taught only voluntarily and for no more than two hours a week. Putin’s phrase is contradictory, and it does not say in what time frame this must be done. And interethnic tensions are quickly escalating in our country. I have lived here since birth, my dad and my grandfather lived here. There were no particular interethnic conflicts. There was tension only in the early 1990s. And then it calmed down. And now they are dividing again: you are a Tatar, and you are a Russian. You will choose Tatar, but you will not. I remembered that when I was a schoolboy, there was a funny, but not very good situation: the Russians were playing football, and the Tatars were going to learn Tatar. But it wasn't tough yet. It just wasn't quite right. And now it started to get rough.

- Your position is to reduce the teaching of Tatar, but not in a hurry?

Do everything slowly as possible. By February, we increased the number of Russian language hours, since we had fewer of them than we should have according to the law. Another thing is that Tatar teachers are not to blame for this. And the prosecutor's office and Rosobrnadzor, who should monitor this.

I think that the issue will be postponed again until March 18, before the Russian presidential elections. The most important result of the courts is that we will be able to convince children to voluntarily learn Tatar. This took time. And in other schools this was done in a humiliating way for the Tatars: they fired many Tatar teachers, set the Tatars against the Russians, and the Russians against the Tatars.

- The authorities' decision has many supporters. Tatarsky, they say, was forced to study whether the student wanted it or not. What would you answer to these people?

What I tell my parents. There are no interethnic complaints or conflicts at our school. We have changed the methodology of teaching Tatar. We don't have homework. We show a lot of films and cartoons in Tatar, children go to museums, Tatar singers and scientists are invited. The Tatar language is taught as a pleasure for children. We have reduced the amount of Tatar, but made sure that there are no statements from parents. I believe that on the land of Tatarstan - this is the only place where there is a homeland of the Tatars - everyone should study the Tatar language for a certain number of hours. Another thing is that you can discuss how many hours, and maybe less than it was. We need other methods: we used to teach grammar and letters. This is wrong: when there are a lot of Russians and Tatars nearby, you just need to talk, sing songs, dance, listen to beautiful Tatar music, and so on. Then it will be natural, pleasant and beautiful. First of all, respect each other. If this culture is not respected, then interethnic conflicts are possible. This is much worse than controversy.

- But from a pragmatic point of view, the authorities’ decision is logical - Tatar is not required for work or for studying at universities, right?

Context

I agree with it. Therefore, when in the fifth grade they study five hours of Tatar, then, in general, this is a lot. Normal would be three or two. A person who is going to leave for Tver or Moscow does not really need the Tatar language. ...We have many interethnic marriages. Every year we go on hiking trips to Tatar villages. Everyone who lives in these parts needs a certain minimum level of language knowledge. Does everyone need math? For a philologist or historian - to a minimal extent, but necessary. There is a certain cultural minimum. On the territory of Tatarstan it is the Tatar language.

- But two hours is allowed. Is this less than the minimum you talked about?

Two hours would be fine if they were mandatory. And they are voluntary. After all, mathematics is not voluntary for us. And English, and geography, and history too. At our school, we resolved the issue: we have two hours, by decision of the parents, they became mandatory for everyone, although formally the lessons are voluntary. In addition, we have many Tatar clubs, so we have not reduced the workload of Tatar teachers. We will reduce it a little in the summer, when we can slowly change our curriculum. Removing it completely from the mandatory grid is fundamentally wrong. Many Tatars will then stop teaching him, because pragmatically he is not very needed. The culture of the Tatar people will be destroyed.

Another small example. In Tatarstan, the Tatar language was studied more, and Russian less, than in Russia. However, out of 88 regions, Tatarstan is in third place in terms of the level of the final exam in the Russian language. Bilingualism is important. When children learned both Tatar and Russian, they knew Russian better.

- In February there was a rally against the abolition of teaching Tatar. You were also present at it. But few people came. Does this mean that the topic is not very relevant for residents of Tatarstan?

I was the only Russian there. There were about 120 people. The rally was announced many times, but this was the first time it was allowed. I was wearing a jacket, jacket, T-shirt, shirt. And within half an hour I was freezing. It was simply cold standing at the rally. When spring comes, more people will come to such rallies.

- At this rally there was a slogan calling on the Russian authorities to ratify the European Charter for Regional Languages. Do you think the current decision to reduce Tatar language lessons is somehow related to the fact that Russia has not yet done this?

I think it's related. It seems to me that Russia is trying to follow its own path of building a rigid pyramid of power. But in such a huge state, such a rigid pyramid does not work well. Saltykov-Shchedrin has this phrase: “The severity of Russian laws is softened by the optionality of their implementation.” It seems to me that Russia is trying to do something that is impossible in this situation. This decision regarding languages ​​leads to a decrease in the diversity of cultures in Russia. After a while everything will return, everything will change. But “some time” can take years and decades.

The trade union committee of education workers has developed recommendations for school principals on how to legally fire teachers or cut their hours

The fate of the Tatar language in schools must be decided before November 7. According to information from Yuri Prokhorov, chairman of the republican committee of the trade union of education and science workers of the Republic of Tatarstan, the ministries of education of Tatarstan and Russia will find a solution this week that will satisfy both parties. Prokhorov cannot say with certainty how many hours of the Tatar language will remain in schools, but the fact that there will be fewer of them than now is for sure. This means that changes in the teaching staff are also inevitable - Tatar teachers will either be offered to teach other subjects, or teachers will be laid off. The education workers' union has already prepared manuals for directors on how to painlessly fire teachers. Some school directors have already handed notices to teachers, others say they will not lay off anyone. Details are in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

“It is obvious that our Ministry of Education has already resigned itself”

Teachers of the Tatar language in schools may still be fired due to bringing the curricula into compliance with Federal State Educational Standards. Some teachers recently received notifications from their management. According to Leysan Garayeva, Tatar language teacher at the Solntse school, she is a member of a chat for Tatar language teachers and four of its participants were advised by management to “start a new life” in the new year.

Today my classmates write that they received notices from school directors saying that they will receive salaries until the end of this year, and then they will be fired. For now, their salary remains, but they will not teach Tatar lessons, they will work out these hours in clubs - they will be occupied until the end of the year, and “in 2018 you will start a new life,” they were told, Leysan Garayeva told Realnoe Vremya "

The Ministry of Education of Tatarstan continues to remain silent, although a week ago Engel Fattakhov told the media that “we will not leave a single teacher on the street.” Plans seem to have changed during this time: a letter from the Ministry of Education appeared on the Internet, in which school directors are asked to provide “information on teachers of the Tatar and Russian languages ​​by November 1.” Directors were also asked to provide information “on the additional need for funds to pay salaries to teachers of the Russian language, arising in connection with changes in the curriculum, taking into account the reduction in the workload of Tatar language teachers and their employment in other positions,” and the additional need for funds for “severance pay for teachers Tatar language when abbreviated."

I think this is terrible. It is obvious that our Ministry of Education has already come to terms with illegal and unfair actions towards teachers, says Pavel Shmakov, director of the Solntse school, clarifying that he has not yet received this letter and therefore is not sure of its authenticity, but has seen a screenshot, which his colleagues sent him. - I asked to send it so that the header and signature were visible, but I haven’t received it yet.

According to Yuri Prokhorov, some directors have already handed notices to teachers

Instructions for the director: how to legally and politely fire a Tatar teacher

The fact that the letter is not a fake becomes obvious if you look at the website of the trade union committee of education workers, where a manual “To help school principals” was published today - on how to fire Tatar language teachers as painlessly and legally as possible. The instructions contain two types of forms, the first - “Notification of changes in the terms of the employment contract”, where the teacher is informed of the new teaching load; if he disagrees, he can be fired, and the second - “Notification of upcoming dismissal due to a reduction in staffing levels” " There are specifics there: it is planned to reduce the number of teachers from December 27, the text is in two versions: “The school administration has the opportunity to offer you the following vacancies: list.” Or the second option: “The school administration is not able to offer you any vacancy at the school.”

According to the leader of the teachers' union, Yuri Prokhorov, some directors have already used the forms and handed such notices to teachers.

Yesterday teachers from one district came. They received notices, but in the heat of the moment they thought they had already been fired. It was necessary to explain that this notification can be received by all teachers of both the Tatar and Russian languages. There will still be changes in working conditions, and the employer must notify the employee affected by this situation. The load will change anyway - it will not remain the same as it is today. Even if we consider that 2 hours of Tatar will be mandatory for everyone as the state language, it is still less than all these years, says Yuri Prokhorov.

According to Prokhorov, the teacher’s workload will be reduced from 28 hours to 18 hours or from 18 hours to 9 hours a week.

But for two months, until January 1, we expect that they will receive wages based on the workload they received before according to the tariff plan. Although they will drive for 9 hours, they will receive 20 hours, as was the case before. This was explained to school directors, we sent draft notifications - how to notify, about what, how to work with people so as not to offend teachers and do everything possible to prevent teachers from being fired,” says Yuri Prokhorov.

The teacher’s workload will decrease from 28 hours to 18 hours or from 18 hours to 9 hours a week, Prokhorov notes. Photo Photo edunion.ru

“We have three thousand teachers of the Tatar language, and this will affect everyone”

Deputy Chairman of Parliament Rimma Ratnikova expressed concern about reducing the teaching load and dismissing teachers at the last session of the State Council; according to her, reducing a teacher’s hours during the school year is prohibited by the education law. Prokhorov clarifies that there is a clause - “for no reason”, “and if there is a reduction in the curriculum, a reduction in classes - for example, a merger of classes has occurred and the workload is reduced,” then it is possible to lay off a teacher, but again, the leader of the trade union committee clarifies, “employees must be notified two months in advance and for two months to work under the conditions under which they entered into an agreement before.”

We have 3 thousand Tatar language teachers, and this situation will affect everyone. But some will be released due to reduction, and others will be retrained. I like what the Nurlatsky district is doing now: through the education department, the trade union, it analyzes the position of each teacher and seeks to offer either another job, or, if not according to the profile, to open extended day groups, that is, to do everything to mitigate this situation. Well, other districts also calmed down and moved on to resolving the situation, especially since the president also explained at the session that neither the teachers nor the directors were to blame, the authorities were to blame for what happened, says Yuri Prokhorov.

The fact that Tatar teachers can teach another subject is confirmed by Leysan Garayeva. For the last 15 years, graduates of the tatfak have received a double specialization: “teacher of the Tatar language and teacher of a foreign language” or “teacher of the Tatar language and teacher of Russian as a foreign language.”

I am a philologist, a teacher of the Tatar language, but I can also teach Arabic, I have a diploma as a teacher of the Russian language, which gives me the right to teach Russian. But all of us, Tatar teachers, are now experiencing a very big tragedy in our lives, it’s very difficult for us. Now a classmate who is improving her qualifications in Kazan said that the school director called her and said that “you must change your qualifications, go not to Tatar, but to English,” says the teacher.

Rimma Ratnikova also expressed concern about the reduction of the teaching load and the dismissal of teachers. Photo gossov.tatarstan.ru

“No one is going to fire anyone right now”

Pavel Shmakov, director of the Solntse school, said that he is not going to reduce the workload of Tatar teachers now, despite the orders of the prosecutor’s office, to bring the curriculum to the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard.

By the summer, I agree to implement the law, but only in such a way that teachers in the summer know about it in advance. According to the law on education, all curricula are approved before teachers go on vacation, teachers know their workloads, and they cannot be reduced during the year - this is illegal. All this had to be done either this summer or next summer,” says Shmakov.

However, according to Shmakov, most of his fellow directors could not resist the fight with the prosecutor's office.

At the session of the State Council, Irina Bakova expressed indignation, and rightly so, that everything needs to be changed in a short time, but she also said that she had fulfilled all the requirements. If the deputies of the State Council are afraid, then what can we say about the rest? - Shmakov argues.

Gymnasium No. 102, headed by Irina Bakova, has really changed the curriculum; it is posted on the school website. According to him, the Tatar language is not included in the compulsory part. It, in the form of the native language, is transferred to the component formed by the educational organization, in the amount of two hours per week. Despite the almost threefold reduction in teaching hours of the Tatar language, Bakova told Realnoe Vremya that she would not fire anyone.

No one is going to fire anyone right now. We have labor laws, and any employer must provide work or offer additional work. No one is firing Tatar language teachers right now. “I’m not firing anyone,” says Irina Bakova, State Council deputy and director of gymnasium No. 102 in Kazan.

Despite the almost threefold reduction in Tatar language teaching hours, Irina Bakova said that she would not fire anyone. Photo gossov.tatarstan.ru

“The curriculum is being agreed upon with the Russian Ministry of Education, a decision should be made by November 7”

All schools in Tatarstan have adopted their own curricula; they are different. Let us recall that the Federal State Educational Standards provide for five plans. The first is with a five-day school week and without studying the native language. Not a single school in Tatarstan chose him. The most popular were the second and third plans. The second option does not provide for the compulsory study of the Tatar language, instead of it the native language (Russian or Tatar - to choose from) in part, formed by the educational organization. The third option is with compulsory study of the Tatar language, but in a smaller volume (most schools stopped at three hours a week). The fourth option - the one that has been taught in Tatarstan for many years - is for schools with a native (non-Russian) language of instruction, but teaching in Russian. The fifth option is for national schools in which teaching is conducted in the native (non-Russian) language - the so-called Tatar schools. What all options have in common is an increase in Russian language hours.

According to Yuri Prokhorov, the schools simply complied with the demands of the prosecutor's office, bringing their curricula into compliance with the Federal State Educational Standard, but this will not last long. Most likely, a common curriculum will be determined for all schools.

They chose the curriculum, they fulfilled the prosecutor's order, but by November 7 some decision must be made common to all schools. The working group is working with the Russian Ministry of Education, agreeing on the curriculum, and I think that by the end of the week something will become clearer. Then it will be possible to talk about how many hours of language there will be, how many teachers will be needed, how many people will feel a reduction in the teaching load or changes in staffing,” says Yuri Prokhorov.

So it’s too early for parents to hang a new schedule over their student’s desk. The curriculum and number of lessons announced at meetings held in all schools may change dramatically before the start of the second quarter.

Daria Turtseva

Serious disputes surrounding the teaching of the Tatar language continue to shake the information space of Tatarstan and neighboring republics. The chairman of the board of the National Parents Committee also joined the discussion Irina Volynets. In an author's column written for Realnoe Vremya, a social activist opposes the imposition of Tatar on schoolchildren. At the same time, the columnist notes that no one takes away the right to learn a child’s native language.

“No, I’m not against Tatar”

After a very specific thesis Vladimir Putin At a meeting of the Council on International Relations held in Yoshkar-Ola, about the fact that the study of the native language should take place exclusively on a voluntary basis, Tatar was again discussed in Tatarstan. Moreover, the President of the Russian Federation issued a corresponding decree, according to which the prosecutor’s office must conduct a corresponding inspection by November 30.

Nobody took away our right to study Tatar as a native language, but until now this legal right in fact turns out to be an obligation for all students without exception.

No, I’m not against Tatar, especially considering that I’m a Tatar on my mother’s side and have been accustomed to hearing Tatar speech since childhood. But, despite the fact that I myself studied this language both at school and at university, I was never taught to speak it fluently. Even though I always got an A in this subject.

“Where is the Republican Ministry of Education looking?”

It is no secret that for more than twenty years, children in Tatarstan, as well as in many other regions of Russia, have not received enough basic knowledge of the Russian language. What is the result? Schoolchildren for more than one generation have not had equal opportunities for admission to, for example, Moscow universities compared to schoolchildren in Moscow and St. Petersburg (except for children whose parents can pay for tutors). It is especially offensive that the level of ignorance of Tatar by our children is total, with the exception of children with whom Tatar is spoken in their families.

Why is this happening? Subjects of the Russian Federation at the local level introduced compulsory study of the Tatar (and in other national republics, respectively, Bashkir, Tyvin, etc.) language as their native language. This status was determined for him by local parliamentarians. It was determined back then, during the collapse of the USSR. And according to the Decree of the Government of Tatarstan, Tatar and Russian are recognized as the official languages ​​of the Republic.

But since the compulsory study of two state languages ​​is too much, Tatar was given the status of a native language. Moreover, for all children, including those whose native language is Russian. It should be noted that teaching Tatar begins in kindergarten (2 hours per week). In secondary schools it increases to 5-6 (!) hours per week. It is interesting that in fee-paying schools of national republics there is no compulsory study of local languages. Where does our so categorical Republican Ministry of Education look in such cases?

“Engel Fattakhov answered all the questions that this is not Bashkiria here and we will figure it out ourselves. It's clear how. But we live not only in Tatarstan, but also in Russia!” Photo by: Maxim Platonov

“But we live not only in Tatarstan”

The quality of the Tatar teaching methodology, undoubtedly leaving much to be desired (with the rare exception of individual teaching talents), deserves a separate discussion. Meanwhile, Tatar is taught by reducing the lessons of the Russian language and Russian literature established by the Federal State Educational Standard. For example, the prosecutor's office of Bashkortostan has already reported that it will monitor the voluntary nature of studying native Bashkir, but this department of Tatarstan is still silent. The media make their requests, but the authorities seem to have fallen into a coma.

A new reason for reflection was the very definite statements of the Minister of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan, which surprised us with their directness and peremptory nature. Engel Fattakhov He answered all the questions that this is not Bashkiria here and we will figure it out ourselves. It's clear how. But we live not only in Tatarstan, but also in Russia!

But what about the national identity of the Tatars, Bashkirs and other peoples inhabiting great Russia, another reader will reasonably ask? And as it was in Soviet times, national languages ​​were taught in the republics as an elective. And everyone who wanted to learn a truly native language (as well as those who were not native speakers of the national language of the republic) had the opportunity to do so without hindrance. Let us emphasize: they had the right, but were not obliged. This wonderful practice should be resumed. After all, you won’t be forced to become relatives - I hope everyone will agree with this.

Troops from Moscow arrive to extinguish the interethnic fire, and in the Republic of Tatarstan they hint that it has already been decided to reduce the number of Tatar language lessons, but keep it compulsory

Photo: Oleg Tikhonov (at the rally “For the Native Russian Language!”, April 2017)

The conflict around the Tatar language in schools is nearing its end. On October 27, the inspection of the Prosecutor General's Office and Rosobrnadzor ends; the official bodies do not comment on anything until its completion, but hints have already been given that the Tatar language will remain in schools, although the number of lessons may be reduced. The Ministry of Education of Tatarstan gathers the heads of the Russian Academy of Sciences for an unscheduled meeting, and experts on interethnic relations from the Russian Academy of Sciences were brought to the Kazan Kremlin, before the conflict between opponents and supporters of compulsory Tatar in schools went beyond online discussions. Read about whether tomorrow will be the “X” day for Tatar in the material of Realnoe Vremya.

Experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences were invited to extinguish the language fire in Tatarstan

Tomorrow may become the “X” day, which will put an end to discussions about whether or not the Tatar language should be voluntary in schools. There are many events planned for the day dedicated to this topic.

The State Council of Tatarstan is holding a regular session at which the topic of teaching the Tatar language will be raised. This issue is not on the agenda yet, but changes may be made to the agenda at the beginning of the session, and, most likely, deputies will raise this issue. At least, the speaker of the republican legislative assembly Farid Mukhametshin has already hinted about this.

Tomorrow, a specialist in “fighting fires” in the field of interethnic conflicts, the head of the center for the study of interethnic relations at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leokadia Drobizheva, is coming to Kazan. It should be noted that Drobizheva is invited to Kazan in emergency cases. The last time this was the report of sociologists of the Center for the Study of National Conflicts Sergei Starovoitov and Ivan Zhukov, in which Tatarstan was presented in an unflattering light - in the map of the report the republic was designated red as one of the regions of Russia with the most tense situation in interethnic relations. At the end of 2014, at the request of the Tatarstan authorities, the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences held a conference in Kazan, where it tried to convince the public of the opposite.

As Leokadia Drobizheva told Realnoe Vremya, she was invited to Kazan from the administration of the President of Tatarstan. On October 26, Drobizheva will hold a seminar there “for those who were invited there.”

Drobizheva is invited to Kazan in emergency cases. Photo fadn.gov.ru

Tomorrow, the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan is holding an unscheduled meeting via videoconference with the heads of district and city education departments on “topical issues of education.” The meeting will be held behind closed doors; local management will probably be given instructions on what to tell parents and what to do with the curriculum.

Part of the Moscow landing party arrived in Kazan today. Svetlana Ermakova, head of the department for support of ethnocultural specifics and special forms of education of the Department of State Policy in the Sphere of General Education of the Russian Ministry of Education and Science, met with colleagues from Rosobrnadzor, who are currently on an inspection in Tatarstan. She was also taken on an excursion to one of the schools.

“We are retreating”: hours for studying Tatar can be reduced, but not canceled

Tatarstan Education Minister Engel Fattakhov met with Russian Education Minister Olga Vasilyeva on Monday. What proposal Fattakhov made to the Moscow boss and what they agreed on remains a mystery. Journalists hang up the phone of the Ministry of Education with questions about when there will be a briefing on the results of the trip, but the press service of the department remains silent.

The veil of secrecy was lifted today by an event at the House of Friendship of Peoples, where representatives of the Ministry of Education of Tatarstan, authorities and the public adopted a resolution in which they recognized the validity of the discontent of part of the Russian-speaking public of the republic.

“The Tatar language is studied as a native language, although it is not one; The volumes of studying the Russian language do not correspond to the volumes recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation since 2015. In addition, there are complaints about the quality of teaching the Tatar language, the overload of programs with theoretical material, as well as the insufficient level of use of effective techniques aimed at communication skills. These circumstances became the subject of negative assessments during the inspection of Rosobrnadzor and the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation in educational institutions of the republic,” the resolution says.

What proposal Fattakhov made to the Moscow boss and what they agreed on remains a mystery. Photo by Maxim Platonov

From the text of the resolution it follows that the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan proposed measures to resolve this conflict and the meeting participants decided to support them. “From January 1, 2018, the volume of studying the Russian language will be brought to the level established by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for all types of educational institutions. In grades 10-11, the study of the Tatar language should be transferred to a voluntary basis - according to the appropriate profile of training. To ensure the study of the Tatar language as a compulsory subject - the state language of the Republic of Tatarstan at the levels of primary general and basic general education.”

The resolution also proposed to contact the Russian Ministry of Education with a request to consider the issue of including the subject “state language of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation” in the Federal State Educational Standards and to develop curriculum options that provide for the study of the state language of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

The adoption of the resolution took place closed to the press. As a result, State Council Speaker Rimma Ratnikova called the decision a “compromise.”

Of course, this is a compromise, of course, we are retreating, but this is probably necessary today,” Ratnikova told reporters.

At parent meetings they started talking about reducing the mandatory Tatar hours from the second quarter

It must be taken into account that a resolution is just a proposal and not a final verdict. In any case, the end of the language conflict in schools is close - employees of the departments of Yuri Chaika and Sergei Kravtsov finish work on October 27. Official bodies do not comment on the progress of inspections, and such silence gives rise to many rumors. Conflicting information is being spread through social media groups and school parent chats.

Some say that the number of Tatar language lessons will remain at 3-4 per week: “The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tatarstan has submitted to Russia an option with an increase in Russian and a decrease in Tatar to 3-4 hours, depending on the focus of schools and classes,” writes a source who visited the meeting at the Ministry of Education and Science of Tatarstan.

The decisions of individual school leaders to reduce the Tatar language can so far be explained only by the consequences of prosecutorial inspections in these institutions. Photo mariuver.com

Others say that at a parent meeting they were told that from the second quarter the number of hours of the Tatar language would be reduced to two per week: “Instead of Tatar, hours in Russian and foreign languages ​​will be added, there will be a lesson on speech culture and rhetoric for Russians in Russian, for Tatars - in the Tatar language,” the reader reported the results of his parent meeting to Realnoe Vremya. Local crypto channels are also actively disseminating information about leaving the Tatar language as a compulsory language, but in an abbreviated form.

The Ministry of Education of Tatarstan states that no decisions have been made yet and cannot be made until the end of the inspection. The decisions of individual school leaders to reduce the Tatar language can only be explained by the consequences of prosecutorial inspections in these institutions, which discovered violations of the Law on Education of the Russian Federation - starting with the fact that parents did not give consent to study the Tatar language, ending with the fact that the Russian language is taught in volumes that do not correspond to the recommended Ministry of Education of Russia.

Instructions from Russian speakers and propaganda leaflets from Tatar speakers: how parents react to conflict

Most schools have taken a break and are in no hurry to make decisions on changing the curriculum. This week, parent meetings began, where moms and dads are given standard application forms and asked to decide on the language that is their native language: “I give my consent to teaching in the subject “Native Language and Literary Reading in the Native Language” ... - further parents they write either “Russian” or “Tatar language”. At the same time, the form states that the subject “native language” is compulsory, but taking into account the opinion of the students’ parents.

Activists advocating the voluntary nature of learning the Tatar language believe that they are trying to mislead parents with such statements. “The concept of “native Russian” does not exist at all in the education law. The Russian language is a separate subject, and the native language is one of the languages ​​of the peoples of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Native Russian will be replaced with something else if you sign this application,” says the mailing instructions on how to behave at a meeting in schools, distributed in WhatsApp chats.

On October 24, an administrative lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in defense of the compulsory study of the Tatar language from one of the schools in Naberezhnye Chelny to the Russian Ministry of Education. Photo by Maxim Platonov

Daria Turtseva